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  • In September 2016, leaders from the world’s most powerful economies met for the G20 Summitto

  • discuss matters of international financial prosperity.

  • But perhaps surprisingly, some of the fastest growing economies were not even represented.

  • So, what are these rapidly growing economies?

  • Well, according to CIA Factbook, one of the countries with the highest GDP growth is Papua

  • New Guinea, a small, independent state just north of Australia.

  • Papua New Guinea is a rural country, and about 85 percent of the population earns its livelihood

  • from agriculture.

  • However agricultural exports - namely palm oil, coffee and cocao, only account for about

  • a fourth of the country’s roughly $20 billion dollar GDP.

  • The rest comes from mineral deposits, like gas, copper and gold Gas, in particular, has

  • been a key contributor to Papua New Guinea’s dramatic economic growth, as foreign oil companies

  • have been exporting the resource since 2004.

  • At the time, its GDP was just about $4 billion dollars.

  • Papua New Guinea’s GDP has grown by nearly 8  percent every year on average over the

  • past three years, however the profits have not trickled down to most Papua New Guineans,

  • as nearly forty percent continue to live in poverty.

  • Not too far from Papua New Guinea is another booming economy - the tiny island nation of

  • Palau.

  • This may come as a surprise, as Palau is extremely isolated and survives almost entirely on fishing,

  • agriculture, tourism and large stipends from the United States.

  • Tourism is particularly important, and Palau seriously struggled at times when major airlines

  • suspended flights to the archipelago for economic reasons.

  • However this all changed in 2014 when China introduced direct charter services to the

  • island.

  • That year, Palau saw roughly 125,000 foreign tourists, a nearly 14 percent increase from

  • the previous year.

  • In 2015 that number jumped to more than 160,000, nearly half of whom were from China.

  • Although the tourism spike has led to 9 percent annual GDP growth, Palauans are now outnumbered

  • nearly 8 to one by tourists, and are reportedly unhappy with the toll tourism has taken on

  • the environment.

  • But the fastest growing economy in the world, according to recent figures, is actually Ethiopia.

  • Over the past decade the east African country’s GDP has grown by an average of 10 percent

  • every year, and today it is $160 billion dollars.

  • This relatively sudden influx of wealth is primarily a result of ambitious investments

  • in infrastructure, a growing manufacturing industry, consistent demand for the country’s

  • agricultural exports and an ongoing privatization of its largest companies.

  • That said, the country still can’t provide enough jobs for its rapidly growing population,

  • and much of the money ends up in the hands of corrupt officials.

  • What’s more, Ethiopia is suffering from one of its worst droughts in decades, leaving

  • much of the population poor and food insecure.

  • There’s no doubt that Ethiopia, Palau and Papua New Guinea are growing fast.

  • However these countries have relatively little money to begin with, while other countries

  • like Ireland and Uzbekistan are much wealthier and growing at comparable rates.

  • Growth rates are notoriously unstable and volatile, so while all of these countries

  • are growing fast, it's not a guarantee of future success.

In September 2016, leaders from the world’s most powerful economies met for the G20 Summitto

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